My Boyfriend Gave Our Home Access Card To My Best Friend Chapter 11

My Boyfriend Gave Our Home Access Card To My Best Friend Chapter 11

I stopped walking. I’d thought I was ready, but my palms were suddenly damp.

Once, I’d imagined meeting Ethan’s parents, too. I’d read endless advice about making a good impression,

spent a month choosing gifts, and lain awake the night before, too nervous to sleep.

Ethan had laughed at me for worrying and insisted I just buy something simple. When we finally met, his

mother disliked the gifts. Then she criticized my clothes, my manners, and the way I spoke.

I was mortified. Ethan told me she had a sharp tongue but a good heart and that I shouldn’t take it

personally.

Later, I learned she’d told him to dump me as soon as I left and go on a date with someone she’d chosen.

Ethan and I had a terrible fight over it.

Those old wounds had healed, but moments like this could still make them ache.

Daniel felt me tense. He didn’t press me. He only took my hand.

“Don’t be scared. They aren’t meeting you to decide whether you’re good enough.” He bent until we were eye to eye. “They know I love you. They want to love you, too.”

My throat tightened. He was always like this. He never rushed me to forget the pain. He patiently showed me that things could be different.

“If you’re not ready, we can wait.”

“I’m not saying no.” I held his hand tighter. “I’m just a little nervous.”

He smiled and rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand. “Then I’ll handle anything awkward. Your only job is to enjoy dinner.”

When I finally met his parents, I realized my fears had been unfounded.

His father opened the door in a perfectly pressed suit, looking serious enough to chair a board meeting. But the moment Daniel said, “Dad,” he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket.

“Do I start with the welcome?” he whispered. “Your mother made a schedule. I’ve been memorizing it all

night.”

His mother hurried out of the kitchen and snatched the paper away. “What schedule? You’ll scare Claire off!”

Then she turned to me, her face lighting up. “You must be Claire. Come in, sweetheart. Ignore these two. They’re as hopeless as each other.”

There were no interrogations over dinner. No criticism. His mother kept offering me more food while his father solemnly explained which dishes he’d made himself and which ones Daniel had contributed to by

“washing two sprigs of parsley.”

We laughed all through the meal. When the conversation turned to my past, my fingers tightened around my fork. Daniel took my other hand beneath the table.

His mother didn’t look at me any differently. Her voice was gentle.

“Loving the wrong person wasn’t your fault. You came through something terrible and built this wonderful company. That takes courage. If you ask me, Ethan was never good enough for you.”

His father nodded. “Your past doesn’t say anything bad about you. It says he didn’t know how lucky he was.”

They weren’t pitying me or acting as though they were doing me a favor by accepting me. I heard only concern and respect.

The last weight on my chest finally lifted.